How to search in Research Data Switchboard

How to use MyRDA in Research Data Switchboard

How to search in Research Data Switchboard

Performing a Search

To perform a search simply type your search terms into the Search Bar displayed at the top of the page and click the ‘Search’ button. The search will be executed and you will be navigated to the Search Results page where you can further refine your search. If you would like to be more precise on where to look for your search terms you can use the dropdown displayed with the Search Bar to select a specific field to search within. The following search fields are available:

Title - The search will attempt to locate your search terms in the title of each record.

Identifier - The search will attempt to locate your search terms in the identifiers assigned to each record.

Related People - The search will attempt to locate your search terms in the names of people related to each record.

Related Organisations - The search will attempt to locate your search terms in the names of organisations or institutions related to each record.

Description - The search will attempt to locate your search terms in the description of each record.

Exact phrases can also be entered into the Search Bar by using quotes " " E.g. "ice sheets"

More complex search term queries can be conducted using the Advanced Search. Please refer to the Advanced Search tab above.

Refining a Search – Filters, Keywords & Multi-select

Once you have executed a search and are on the Search Results page, you can further refine your search by adding additional keywords and filters which are displayed on the left hand side of the page under the ‘Refine search results’ section. Adding a filter will restrict your search to only records which contain the filter value.

Note that the only filter value which is mandatory for a data record is the ‘Data Provider’ value. All other values are optional.

Checkbox Filters & Multi-Select:

The majority of the filters available to refine your search results are enabled via a checkbox. To add a filter to your search simply click the checkbox or label shown against it. Upon selecting the filter the search will be updated to reflect your selection.

Many of the checkbox filters available to refine your search results are multi-select, meaning you can select more than one filter in a single category (e.g. 3 different Subjects). To select multiple filters in a single filter category use the ‘View More’ link shown at the bottom of the filter list to access the Advanced Search popout. From within the Advanced Search you will be able to select multiple filters in the one category. More information can be found in the Advanced Search section below.

Time Period filter:

The Time Period filter allows you to restrict your search to only records which contain Temporal Coverage * information which falls within a specific year range. The filter has been implemented as a pair of text fields which allow you to enter a ‘From Year
and ‘To Year’. The placeholder text shown in the text fields indicates the available Temporal range you can search within.

To add a Time Period filter:

Simply enter a ‘From Year’ and a ‘To Year’ in the provided text fields. Note that open ranges can be specified by leaving one of the fields blank.

Click the ‘Go’ button to apply the filter

*Temporal Coverage = Time period during which data was collected or observations made.

Keywords:

Additional keywords can be added to your search by either adding more search terms to the Search Bar at the top of the page or by using the Keywords filter shown at the top of the ‘Refine search results’ section on the left hand side of the page.

Location filter:

The Location filter allows you to restrict your search results to only records that have mappable location information described, which falls within a specified region. The Location filter is available through the Advanced Search. Please refer to the Advanced Search section below for more information.

Clearing a Search

To clear a search click the black ‘X’ displayed in the search bar or click the ‘Clear Search’ button displayed in the Current Search section displayed on the left hand side of the Search Results page.

Understanding Your Search Results

The search within Research Data Switchboard will return records matching your specified search parameters (terms and filters). By default the returned records will be sorted by ‘Relevance’, where each record in a search result is given a ranking based on how closely a record matches the entered parameters. The search ranking algorithm used in Research Data Switchboard for ‘Relevance’ is complex and cannot easily be described. Below is a very rough guide for how the default ranking and matching is achieved.

Searches for a given word in Research Data Switchboard will generate results of any records which contain the entire word or the "stem" of the word (a stem is generated by a built-in Solr filter, which breaks down search terms into their "word stems", so "fishing" will match "fish")

Searches for multiple terms (i.e. space-separated) are treated as disjunctive queries (so any matches on individual terms will be counted). Words enclosed in quotes are considered conjunctive and so the whole search term must match.

Matches are performed against all the indexed fields for a record.

Search terms discovered in the title or alternative title are ranked highest.

Where multiple search terms have been entered, the distance (count of words) between these terms in a record affects the overall ranking.

Search Result Components

For each record in the search results the Title, Data Provider and in context search term highlighting is displayed. Where no search terms have been provided for a search, the in context search term highlighting is replaced with a brief description for the record. Clicking on the Title will take you to the full record view.
The in context highlighting provides users with an easy way of understanding why a record has been returned by a search. The indexed field where the match was made is displayed in brackets at the end of the context snippet e.g. “(in Subject)”. Up to 2 context snippets will be provided for each type of indexed field per record. For example the above image shows 2 snippets for the Description field.

Sorting Your Search Results

As explained above the default sort order for search results is ‘Relevance’, where each record in a search result is given a ranking based on how closely a record matches the entered search parameters. The records are then sorted by ranking highest to lowest. The default sort order can be changed by using the ‘Sort by:’ dropdown displayed in the search results header.

The sort options are:

Relevance

Title A-Z

Title Z-A

Date Added (sorted newest to oldest)

Number of Search Results per Page

A default of 15 records are displayed per search result page. If there are more than 15 records, they will be displayed on subsequent pages. The number of records displayed per page can be changed by using the ‘Show:’ dropdown displayed in the search results header. The pagination links displayed at the top and bottom of the search results can then be used to navigate between pages.

How to use MyRDA in Research Data Switchboard

MyRDA provides you with a personal account in Research Data Switchboard. Once logged in you will gain access to additional functionality such as the ability to save searches and records for viewing across separate RDA sessions, and the ability to contribute to the Research Data Switchboard community by adding tags (keywords) to records to assist in discovery.

Accessing MyRDA

MyRDA can be accessed from the ‘MyRDA Login’ menu option shown in the Research Data Switchboard menu bar displayed at the top of each page.

To log in you must either belong to an institution which is a member of the Australian Access Federation (AAF), have local credentials registered in the system or have an account with a supported social media provider (e.g. Facebook). Upon logging in an account will automatically be generated for you by the system. Options for logging in are:

Social– Social authentication allows users to login with their social media accounts. The social logins currently supported by Research Data Switchboard are Facebook, Twitter, Google and LinkedIn. Upon logging in via a social account for the first time, users will be asked to grant Research Data Switchboard some permissions to their profile. These are generally the minimum permissions allowable by the social provider. Research Data Switchboard will not post content to your social account unless asked to by you (eg. Clicking a share button in Research Data Switchboard). More information can be found in the Privacy Policy.

Shibboleth AAF - Research Data Switchboard is open to all Australian researchers who have valid Australian Access Federation (AAF) accounts. The AAF provides an infrastructure to facilitate trusted electronic communications between higher education and research institutions both locally and internationally. The infrastructure is built upon the federated identity solution Shibboleth. Researchers who can authenticate with the AAF do not need any additional credentials to access Research Data Switchboard. More information on AAF accounts can be found at http://ands.org.au/resource/obtain-aaf-account.html.

Built In – Built In authentication is generally used by ANDS staff, testers, and users who belong to institutions that are not affiliated with the AAF. Users are created as a User Role in the registry with an Authentication Type of ‘Built In’, and authenticate directly against the registry.

LDAP – LDAP authentication is only used by ANDS staff.

Saving Searches

Once logged into your MyRDA account searches can be saved and rerun across Research Data Switchboard sessions.
To save a search:

Ensure you are logged into MyRDA.

Execute a search.

Refine the search with filters and additional keywords until you are happy with the result.

Click the ‘Save Search’ button displayed in the In the Current Search section above the filters on the left hand side of the search results page. The ‘Save Search’ popout will be displayed.

Enter a name for the saved search then click the ‘Save Search’ button shown in the popout. The search will be saved to your MyRDA account.

Saving Records

Once logged into your MyRDA account records can be saved from the Search Results and Record View pages.

To save a record from the Search Results page:

Ensure you are logged into MyRDA.

Execute a search which returns some results.

Use the checkbox shown with each search result to select the records to save. Alternatively the ‘Select All’ button can be used to select all records on the page.

Click the ‘Save Records’ button shown in the search results header. The ‘Save to MyRDA’ popout will be displayed.

Enter a name for a new folder to save the record(s) into and click the ‘Go’ button, or select an existing folder to save the record(s) into. The records will be saved to your MyRDA account.

To save a record from a Record View page:

Ensure you are logged into MyRDA.

Open the record you wish to save.

Click the ‘Save to MyRDA’ button shown on the page. The ‘Save to MyRDA’ popout will be displayed.

Enter a name for a new folder to save the record(s) into and click the ‘Go’ button, or select an existing folder to save the record(s) into. The records will be saved to your MyRDA account.

Checking for New Results for your Saved Searches

Once a search has been saved to your account checking for new results across Research Data Switchboard sessions is a quick and easy process.

Before checking for new results it’s important to understand the details displayed for a saved search. Each saved search displays 3 record counts:

The number of records returned by the search at the time of saving the search.

The number of new records added to Research Data Switchboard since the time of saving.

This number is automatically refreshed each time the page is loaded.

The number of records added to Research Data Switchboard since the user last checked for new results.

This number allows users to keep track of the number of new records across Research Data Switchboard sessions without the need to remember how many new records were added since the search was saved. This number is only updated when the user invokes a check for new results.

To check for new results:

Login to MyRDA and access your account.

In the Saved Search table click the ‘Refresh’ button displayed with the search you would like to check for new results. The system will rerun the saved search using the ‘Last Refresh’ date as a constraint. The count and last refresh information will then be updated.

If you would like to check for new results for multiple saved searches you can use the checkboxes displayed with each saved search then click the ‘Bulk Action’ dropdown and select ‘Refresh’.

The Advanced Search popout allows you to build/refine complex queries all in a single tabbed popout. From within the Advanced Search you can construct boolean searches and apply one or more filter categories to your search.

Note that there is no defined order to the tabs in the Advanced Search and you can apply the filters in any order you choose. Where there are multiple options for a filter category e.g. (Subjects) the options & record counts displayed are based on your query. Each time you switch tabs the available filter options and record counts are updated to reflect any changes on the previous tab.

Reviewing your Advanced Search

As you build/refine your search in the Advanced Search popout, you can review the entire search and the number of results which will be returned by selecting the ‘Review’ tab. The tab also allows you to modify your search by removing filters.

Search Terms Query Constructor

The Query Constructor provides a way of searching for records using multiple search term combinations and Boolean operators.

Query Rows

The advanced queries created using the Query Constructor are comprised of Rows. Each Row consists of a Field, Condition Operator and a Value. The Value tells the search what to look for, the Field tells the search where to look, and the Condition Operator tells the search whether a record should ‘Contain’ or ‘Exclude’ the Value.

Multiple search terms entered into a single Condition Value are treated by the search as being separated by the Boolean operator AND.

The search terms are treated as case insensitive E.g. ‘Rain’ is the same as ‘rain’.

Exact phrases can also be entered into Condition Values by using quotes " " E.g. "ice sheets"

The ? symbol can be used to perform a single character wildcard search. E.g. Organi?ations.

The * symbol can be used to perform multiple character wildcard search. E.g. Extend*

Note: Wildcard characters can be applied to single search terms, but not to search phrases.

Boolean Operators

The Query Constructor supports the use of the Boolean operators ‘AND’ & ‘OR’ between Query Rows. The operators are applied at the search level, meaning all Query Rows are separated by the same Boolean value. Changing the Boolean value between two Query Rows will change the value between all Query Rows.

Example - Constructing an Advanced Query

Here we will step through constructing an advanced query where we would like to find all the records which contain ‘Rain’ in the title, and ‘flood’ and ‘weather’ in the description.

Ensure you are starting with a fresh search by clearing any previous searches.

Open the Advanced Search popout and ensure you are on the ‘Search Terms’ tab. Two Query Rows should be displayed by default.

From the Field drop down in the 1st Query Row select ‘Title’.

In the empty value field in the 1st Query Row enter the search term ‘Rain’.

From the Field drop down in the 2nd Query Row select ‘Description’.

In the empty value field in the 2nd Query Row enter the search term ‘flood’.

Click the ‘Add Row’ button to add a 3rd Query Row.

From the Field drop down in the 3rd Query Row select ‘Description’.

In the empty value field in the 3rd Query Row enter the search term ‘weather’.

Click the ‘Search’ button to execute the search.

Subject Filter

The Subject tab allows you to refine your search by selecting subjects which have been used to describe data records. The default subject vocabulary in Research Data Switchboard, and the one which is used consistently by data providers, is the ANZSRC Field of Research. Other supported subject vocabularies are also available and can be selected by using the drop down displayed at the top of the tab (note that these can take a little while to load).

Subject vocabularies are displayed as browsable hierarchical trees. Subject literals displayed as green links can be clicked to display or hide child subjects.

Subjects can be added or removed from your search by using the checkbox displayed with each subject literal. Multiple subjects can be selected within a single subject vocabulary and also across vocabularies.

The number of records with a subject will be displayed at the end of each subject literal E.g ‘Economics (30)’. Note that because the relationships between records and subjects are many to many, the counts displayed with the subjects will not necessarily match the count of records returned by your search. For example you may see 3 subjects all showing a (1) beside them. This could resolve to a single record containing all 3 of the subjects. Where no records exist with a subject value a (0) will be displayed with the literal.

Data Provider Filter

The Data Provider tab allows you to limit your search to records published to Research Data Switchboard by specific providers.The number of records available from providers will be displayed at the end of each provider literal E.g ‘Bond University (25)’.

Data providers can be added or removed from your search by using the checkbox displayed with each data provider literal.

Access Filter

The Access tab allows you to limit your search to records with specific access types. Data records in Research Data Switchboard fall into one of four access types:

Open

Data that is readily accessible and reusable.

Conditional

Data that is accessible and reusable, providing certain conditions are met (e.g. free registration is required)

Restricted

Data access is limited in some way (e.g. only available to a particular group of users or at a specific physical location)

Other

<no value> or <user defined custom value>

The number of records available in each access type will be displayed at the end of the access literal E.g ‘Open(23)’.

Access types can be added or removed from your search by using the checkbox displayed with each access literal.

Licence Filter

Licence Filter Group

Licence types included

Open Licence: A licence bearing broad permissions that may include
a requirement to attribute the source, or share-alike (or both), requiring a
derivative work to be licensed on the same or similar terms as the reused material.

CC-BY

CC-BY-SA

PL

Non-Commercial licence : As for the Open Licence but also
restricting reuse only for non-commercial purposes.

CC-BY-NC

CC BY-NC-SA

Non-Derivative licence: As for the Open Licence but also prohibits adaptation of the material, and
in the second case also restricts reuse only for non-commercial purposes.

No Licence
: All rights to reuse, communicate, publish or reproduce the material are
reserved, with the exception of specific rights contained within the
Copyright Act 1968 or similar laws. Contact the copyright holder for
permission to reuse this material.

NoLicense

Other

<no value> or <user defined custom
value>

The number of records available in each licence filter group will be displayed at the end of the licence literal E.g ‘No Licence(57)’.

Licence groups can be added or removed from your search by using the checkbox displayed with each licence literal.

Time Period Filter

The Time Period tab allows you to restrict your search to only records which contain Temporal Coverage* information which falls within a specific year range. The filter has been implemented as a pair of text fields which allow you to enter a ‘From Year
and ‘To Year’. The placeholder text shown in the text fields indicates the available Temporal range you can search within.

To filter your results by a time period:
Open the Advanced Search popout and ensure you are on the ‘Time Period’ tab.
Enter a time period range by using the From Year and To Year Fields.
Click the ‘Search’ button to execute the search.

*Temporal Coverage = Time period during which data was collected or observations made

Note: Where the records in your search contain no temporal information the following message will be displayed on the tab:
"Search results contain no time period information."

Location Filter

The Location tab will allow you to filter your search results to only records that have mappable location information described, which falls within a specified region.

To draw a region on the map:

pen the Advanced Search popout and ensure you are on the ‘Location’ tab.

Use the map navigation tools on the left hand side of the map until you have the required map view.

Select the box tool ().

Click on the map and drag the mouse to draw a rectangle.

Release the mouse to finish. If there are records with location information available for your selection a red marker will be displayed for the first 15 records.

Click the ‘Search’ button to execute the search.

Note to change or redraw a region simply carry out the above steps again.

Advanced Search

To filter your results by a time period enter a year range between [[ earliest_year ]] and [[ latest_year ]] inclusive. Open ranges can be specified by leaving one of the fields blank. Please note that adding a time period filter to your search will restrict your search to only those records in Research Data Switchboard which contain temporal information.

Search results contain no time period information.

From YearTo Year

Commencement Date Range

Please note that adding this filter will restrict your search to only those activity records in Research Data Switchboard which have a start date recorded

Completion Date Range

Please note that adding this filter will restrict your search to only those activity records in Research Data Switchboard which have an end date recorded

The Advanced Search popout allows you to build/refine complex queries all in a single tabbed popout. From within the Advanced Search you can construct boolean searches and apply one or more filter categories to your search.

Note that there is no defined order to the tabs in the Advanced Search and you can apply the filters in any order you choose. Where there are multiple options for a filter category e.g. (Subjects) the options & record counts displayed are based on your query. Each time you switch tabs the available filter options and record counts are updated to reflect any changes on the previous tab.

Reviewing your Advanced Search

As you build/refine your search in the Advanced Search popout, you can review the entire search and the number of results which will be returned by selecting the ‘Review’ tab. The tab also allows you to modify your search by removing filters.

Search Terms Query Constructor

The Query Constructor provides a way of searching for records using multiple search term combinations and Boolean operators.

Query Rows

The advanced queries created using the Query Constructor are comprised of Rows. Each Row consists of a Field, Condition Operator and a Value. The Value tells the search what to look for, the Field tells the search where to look, and the Condition Operator tells the search whether a record should ‘Contain’ or ‘Exclude’ the Value.

Multiple search terms entered into a single Condition Value are treated by the search as being separated by the Boolean operator AND.

The search terms are treated as case insensitive E.g. ‘Rain’ is the same as ‘rain’.

Exact phrases can also be entered into Condition Values by using quotes " " E.g. "ice sheets"

The ? symbol can be used to perform a single character wildcard search. E.g. Organi?ations.

The * symbol can be used to perform multiple character wildcard search. E.g. Extend*

Note: Wildcard characters can be applied to single search terms, but not to search phrases.

Boolean Operators

The Query Constructor supports the use of the Boolean operators ‘AND’ & ‘OR’ between Query Rows. The operators are applied at the search level, meaning all Query Rows are separated by the same Boolean value. Changing the Boolean value between two Query Rows will change the value between all Query Rows.

Example - Constructing an Advanced Query

Here we will step through constructing an advanced query where we would like to find all the records which contain ‘Rain’ in the title, and ‘flood’ and ‘weather’ in the description.

Ensure you are starting with a fresh search by clearing any previous searches.

Open the Advanced Search popout and ensure you are on the ‘Search Terms’ tab. Two Query Rows should be displayed by default.

From the Field drop down in the 1st Query Row select ‘Title’.

In the empty value field in the 1st Query Row enter the search term ‘Rain’.

From the Field drop down in the 2nd Query Row select ‘Description’.

In the empty value field in the 2nd Query Row enter the search term ‘flood’.

Click the ‘Add Row’ button to add a 3rd Query Row.

From the Field drop down in the 3rd Query Row select ‘Description’.

In the empty value field in the 3rd Query Row enter the search term ‘weather’.

Click the ‘Search’ button to execute the search.

Subject Filter

The Subject tab allows you to refine your search by selecting subjects which have been used to describe data records. The default subject vocabulary in Research Data Switchboard, and the one which is used consistently by data providers, is the ANZSRC Field of Research. Other supported subject vocabularies are also available and can be selected by using the drop down displayed at the top of the tab (note that these can take a little while to load).

Subject vocabularies are displayed as browsable hierarchical trees. Subject literals displayed as green links can be clicked to display or hide child subjects.

Subjects can be added or removed from your search by using the checkbox displayed with each subject literal. Multiple subjects can be selected within a single subject vocabulary and also across vocabularies.

The number of records with a subject will be displayed at the end of each subject literal E.g ‘Economics (30)’. Note that because the relationships between records and subjects are many to many, the counts displayed with the subjects will not necessarily match the count of records returned by your search. For example you may see 3 subjects all showing a (1) beside them. This could resolve to a single record containing all 3 of the subjects. Where no records exist with a subject value a (0) will be displayed with the literal.

Data Provider Filter

The Data Provider tab allows you to limit your search to records published to Research Data Switchboard by specific providers.The number of records available from providers will be displayed at the end of each provider literal E.g ‘Bond University (25)’.

Data providers can be added or removed from your search by using the checkbox displayed with each data provider literal.

Access Filter

The Access tab allows you to limit your search to records with specific access types. Data records in Research Data Switchboard fall into one of four access types:

Open

Data that is readily accessible and reusable.

Conditional

Data that is accessible and reusable, providing certain conditions are met (e.g. free registration is required)

Restricted

Data access is limited in some way (e.g. only available to a particular group of users or at a specific physical location)

Other

<no value> or <user defined custom value>

The number of records available in each access type will be displayed at the end of the access literal E.g ‘Open(23)’.

Access types can be added or removed from your search by using the checkbox displayed with each access literal.

Licence Filter

Licence Filter Group

Licence types included

Open Licence: A licence bearing broad permissions that may include
a requirement to attribute the source, or share-alike (or both), requiring a
derivative work to be licensed on the same or similar terms as the reused material.

CC-BY

CC-BY-SA

PL

Non-Commercial licence : As for the Open Licence but also
restricting reuse only for non-commercial purposes.

CC-BY-NC

CC BY-NC-SA

Non-Derivative licence: As for the Open Licence but also prohibits adaptation of the material, and
in the second case also restricts reuse only for non-commercial purposes.

No Licence
: All rights to reuse, communicate, publish or reproduce the material are
reserved, with the exception of specific rights contained within the
Copyright Act 1968 or similar laws. Contact the copyright holder for
permission to reuse this material.

NoLicense

Other

<no value> or <user defined custom
value>

The number of records available in each licence filter group will be displayed at the end of the licence literal E.g ‘No Licence(57)’.

Licence groups can be added or removed from your search by using the checkbox displayed with each licence literal.

Time Period Filter

The Time Period tab allows you to restrict your search to only records which contain Temporal Coverage* information which falls within a specific year range. The filter has been implemented as a pair of text fields which allow you to enter a ‘From Year
and ‘To Year’. The placeholder text shown in the text fields indicates the available Temporal range you can search within.

To filter your results by a time period:
Open the Advanced Search popout and ensure you are on the ‘Time Period’ tab.
Enter a time period range by using the From Year and To Year Fields.
Click the ‘Search’ button to execute the search.

*Temporal Coverage = Time period during which data was collected or observations made

Note: Where the records in your search contain no temporal information the following message will be displayed on the tab:
"Search results contain no time period information."

Location Filter

The Location tab will allow you to filter your search results to only records that have mappable location information described, which falls within a specified region.

To draw a region on the map:

pen the Advanced Search popout and ensure you are on the ‘Location’ tab.

Use the map navigation tools on the left hand side of the map until you have the required map view.

Select the box tool ().

Click on the map and drag the mouse to draw a rectangle.

Release the mouse to finish. If there are records with location information available for your selection a red marker will be displayed for the first 15 records.

Click the ‘Search’ button to execute the search.

Note to change or redraw a region simply carry out the above steps again.